More On Mirosevic, Duka

Although the loss of Milovan Mirosevic has upset at least the Crew fans who populate Twitter,
team president and general manager Mark McCullers does not appear to be shedding any tears.

Sunday evening, the Crew put weeks of speculation to rest when it announced it had parted ways
with Mirosevic. Although he had a guaranteed contract for the 2013 season, I’ve heard the Crew was
so eager to not have to pay Mirosevic that they did not put up much of a fight to try and keep him
wearing the team’s uniform. It’s a far cry from what we were hearing a year ago when he was signed
and handed the No. 10 jersey.

In 26 appearances including 25 starts, Mirosevic finished with four goals and two assists – not
exactly game-changing numbers. He wound up playing more defense than I think most of us expected,
but McCullers said that had nothing to do with his overall performance.

“I think that’s an excuse,” he said. “Our scouting report said that he tended to play more
central in terms of depth. He scored a lot of goals, but he did exactly what our scouting report
said and we planned on using him as more of a two-way midfielder. Now the fact that we didn’t have
a Danny O’Rourke (always) anchoring that defensive midfielder spot probably meant that he had some
more defensive responsibilities, but I don’t buy that. That’s not causing him to miss a 40-yard
pass by 20 yards, which he did. On numerous occasions.”

Mirosevic was an obvious locker room asset, and McCullers readily admitted as such both during
and after the season. McCullers said there are a number of ways the Crew might go about replacing
Mirosevic, and he is happy for the options.

“I’ll be honest with you: I’m glad to have the money,” he said. “There are some things that we
can do and some things that we put in motion, some scenarios that we couldn’t move forward on that
for financial reasons. This actually opened up some doors for us to do some things that we
otherwise were not going to be able to do.”

Mirosevic was paid a base salary of $200,000 last season, third-highest on the roster. The
decision was finalized this weekend.

His desire to stay in Chile, McCullers said, might have been family-related.

“I’d be speculating a little bit, but I don’t think his family acclimated here,” he said. “I’m
not sure he acclimated here. That happens sometimes. I know that his wife in particular I think
wanted to be back in Chile. That’s secondhand information, but you get a general sense when
somebody is just not really happy.

"We certainly expected him to honor his contract and could have forced him to do that, but at
the end of the day he’s got some things that obviously are on his mind. I think it’s in everybody’s
best interests to try and work that out."

Although the primary benefactor of the move is likely Tony Tchani, who probably slides right
into the starting lineup at this moment, McCullers said the Crew will be looking internationally
for a replacement as well.

“Could be,” he said. “We’ve got some international deals that we’re working on right now, one
that I know we’re going to announce next week and others that could be announced next week. The
international market is crazy. Until we get the signature on the paperwork it’s still speculation
but the things that we have in the works, those (should) get closed and I am happy we have the
resources to do those deals regardless of where they came from.”

At least one international signing will be announced this week, and McCullers said the Crew is
likely to be at 27 players under contract by the end of the week.

That figure likely will not include midfielder Dilly Duka, who is being kept out of preseason
training to avoid suffering any sort of injury that would hamper a trade that is in the works. In
all, the Crew has 21 players on its roster (including last week’s pair of draft picks).

“We’re still working on one trade in particular and there were a handful of teams interested in
Dilly but we’ve been focusing on this one opportunity,” McCullers said. “I hope that it comes
together. There was an agreement in principle at the draft, but certain things had to happen in
order for that to move forward and those things have not happened yet.”

Should the Crew not line up the right deal for Duka, McCullers said no bridges have been
burned.

“He’s a professional player,” he said. “If we can’t get a deal worked out, then he’ll report.
Right now we’ve got enough interest that we’d rather not risk it at this point in the preseason and
I’m confident that we’ll get something worked out.”

There is no drop-dead date for a deal, McCullers said.

In other news, McCullers confirmed that second-round draft pick Drew Beckie holds
a green card and, should he come to terms with the Crew, he would not occupy an international
roster spot. The Crew currently has five of its eight such spots open after parting ways with
Mirosevic.

Finally, the Crew has its first open training session of the year today at 10:15
a.m. Check back this afternoon for a full report.